"We have come from God," Tolkien argued, "and inevitably the myths woven by us, though they contain error, reflect a splintered fragment of the true light, the eternal truth that is with God. Myths may be misguided, but they steer however shakily towards the true harbour" - Tolkien: Man & Myth by Joseph Pearce

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Mountains and Misfits

Alright. The youth group kids aren't really misfits... mostly. And who doesn't love a good alliteration? (It sounds almost like a chapter in a Harry Potter book!) :) Okay. So, we had the kids over for a movie night last night, which was super fun. And thankfully, the house was relatively in order since we'd had a guest this week (more later), so I didn't have to do much to get ready. In spite of this fact, I- for some unknown reason- waited until an hour prior to everyone's ETA to prepare the two food items I needed. Ridiculous, really. One was chocolate chip cookies, and the other was fancy-pantsy-Harry-&-David-just-add-cream-cheese-sour-cream-and-shredded-cheese dip which my lovely mother-in-law brought us when she and pa-in-law visited. (And I'm not kidding when I say "lovely" everyone... my sympathy for you newly-wed lasses without lovely mothers-in-law.)

Sadly, what should have been easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy became an event, because I was in concentration mode. Let me explain. My friend, E, is recording a CD (I could probably say her name, but just in case you know...) of original songs and she asked me to do the album art for it! So, yes I am SUPER excited to be working on it. However, when the time came (a.k.a. late o'clock) to start making the aforementioned would-be easy food items for the movie night, I had been honed in on the album-art-creating for about 2 hours. I think I maybe did not quite disengage my brain from that. Thus, with the frantic scrambling to get things ready along with my growing anticipation of the festivities, Just-Add-This-n-That Dip became a very complicated and high maintenance entree to my overly-focused brain. Poor brain.

And does anyone know how to make a 1/2 cup from 8 oz. of a block of cream cheese? I guessed 4 oz. at first, but that only made for a paltry amount of dip, so I just put it all in. With this sort of thing, I think it does not matter much how much of the other ingredients you put in- I mean, whoever heard of more cream cheese being a bad thing?

Anyway, dip and cookies turned out fine, to the joy of my fried brain cells, and the movie night was a smash! We watched 2 movies: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Fantastic Mr. Fox, the latter of which was filmed entirely in stop motion (AMAZING). I must say, I think Cloudy is funniest film I've seen recently! Loved Mr. T! "You a tom fool!" baaaahhh.... good times.

As I said earlier, we had a guest with us for the majority of this week. My dear friend Brookie came to visit! It all happened rather quickly, and it's a wonderful story. Apparently, in the last month or so, she has had a Waking Up of sorts in regard to life and the fact that one usually does something with it. The initial part of this was that she realized church had always been comfortable- but that had basically been the extent of it. Comfort. Something that was a consistent part of life that her parents took her to. But recently, she realized it ought to be more than that. Shouldn't being a Christ-follower actually mean one is- well- following? It involves movement, which no one can do for you. Thus, she was filled with a desire to make her faith her own, to ask big questions, and she came to understand that one huge key in loving the Lord and being His follower is faith- being okay with not knowing all of the answers.

Then, Brooke found that every minute of every day was occupied over and over by three words: Johnson Bible College. She had no idea why. She didn't even know were it was. (Although, she told me she thought it was in Michigan... it's funny if you're a PK and know about places like Johnson to hear such a remark.) Anyway, she had a couple of run-ins with people from Johnson- really awesome people who loved it there and really encouraged her. And she thought maybe God was tapping her on the shoulder. I thought He was probably dancing around her banging a pan with a spoon shouting it... :) Just kidding. (Though He's probably doing that with me about something and I have no clue. If someone does- let me know.)

SO, long story fractionally shorter, we told Brookie we'd LOVE to have her come stay with us and we'd drive her over to JBC one day since it's close-ish to us. She flew in on Sunday afternoon, and stayed until Thursday afternoon. First of all, my voice is actually tired from laughing so much and talking! Secondly, we visited JBC on Monday. It was a spontaneous sort of thing, no appointment. So, it was an interesting visit... You should ask her about it, someday. But it was good, in spite of the awkward-college-visit-ness of it, and Ryan and I are both hoping greatly that God holds the door open for her to come this semester!!! It's amazing how He has been working in her life, and I'm SO excited that we got to help a little.

While she was here, we did crucial things, too, like watching a lot of Scrubs, singing/playing songs on the piano, almost singing/playing songs on the guitar (we're both learning), and watching youtubes of new indie artists whose lyrics we don't quite understand but think the way they play the banjo with a violin bow so it sounds like fairy bagpipes- is cool. Also, we have the song "If I Die Young" by The Band Perry stuck in our heads (Ryan was even whistling it the other day). :) It was so delightfully fun I'm pretty sure she NEEDS to live closer...

Oh, and Brooke LOVES mountains. And outside. I mean, REALLY loves them. So, on Wednesday, Ryan drove the three of us up the mountain and we went on a hike. That was after we went to our fav coffee shop- which of course meant that I was "cute" and not exactly dressed for hiking... but it was fun! And I could tell Brooke was totally in her element... when I could see her, that is. More than once I had to choke out the words "Brooooke.... waaaait..." If Brooke made her way through the woods like a gazelle, Ryan and I were more like rolly-pollies... But it was beautiful. :)

Anyway, I think I speak for both us Allcotts when I say it's been an eventful week! But loverly. Ryan is such a wonderful man. I can't even tell you. Thank you Lord! And hopefully I'll be able to play G, C, D, and Emin better on the guitar the next time I write...

2 comments:

  1. Hey Haylie - just FYI, Stuart and I live at Johnson right now, and his sister is here as a freshman... so if your friend Brooke needs someone to hook up with or ask questions about the school, we'd be happy to help! (I promise not to encourage Milligan over Johnson... however difficult that may be... haha.) - katy (head) large

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  2. Hey Katy!
    Thanks! I'll let her know! Oh, and I've already attempted with the Milligan stuff... :) Ha! But I appreciate it!
    ~ Haylie

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